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NetWork Kansas gets $3M Kauffman boost to build inclusive ecosystems across state
Startland News’ Startup Road Trip series explores innovative and uncommon ideas finding success in rural America and Midwestern startup hubs outside the Kansas City metro. This series is possible thanks to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, which leads a collaborative, nationwide effort to identify and remove large and small barriers to new business creation. WICHITA…
LaunchKC grants competition gets boost toward relaunch with newly announced funding, MTC says
A popular grants competition that helped raise the profiles — and buoy the bank accounts — of dozens of Kansas City startups could be relaunching with renewed funding from the Missouri Technology Corporation, the agency announced Tuesday. LaunchKC was named one of seven organizations to together receive more than $1 million in grant funding to support…
Invest in small biz infrastructure, group urges city; They want $11M in KCMO budget for entrepreneur funding
Three years of working and waiting might be headed to an impasse for entrepreneur support advocates who’ve been lobbying the City of Kansas City, Missouri, for renewed — and dramatically enhanced — funding to boost startups and small businesses battered by the pandemic. “Everywhere we go, we’re asked ‘Kansas City is supposed to be the…
Celebrity crypto critic: Overhyped NFTs are just the free drink to lure you into the casino
Editor’s note: The following story is part of Startland News’ coverage of the SXSW conference in Austin. Click here to read more stories from the 2022 trip. AUSTIN — TV star and economist Ben McKenzie balked at the prospect of downloading a “free” NFT promoted by a vendor this week at SXSW — one of…
He’s bringing NFTs to Instagram; how Mark Zuckerberg’s next move could push you further into the metaverse
Editor’s note: The following story is part of Startland News’ coverage of the SXSW conference in Austin. Click here to read more stories from the 2022 trip. AUSTIN — NFTs are headed to Instagram — but the virtual assets aren’t the only thing Mark Zuckerberg has planned for humanity’s journey deep into the metaverse. “That’s…
Dreamgirl hits the start button at SXSW; why the KC band tells its peers to break out of the Midwest
Editor’s note: The following story is part of Startland News’ coverage of the SXSW conference in Austin. Click here to read more stories from the 2022 trip. AUSTIN — Dreamgirl describes itself as a family — a bit dysfunctional at times, but nonetheless family, members of the Kansas City-based band shared, laughing the morning before their…
Climate change innovation, leadership must be built at the local level, Buttigieg tells SXSW
Editor’s note: The following story is part of Startland News’ coverage of the SXSW conference in Austin. Click here to read more stories from the 2022 trip. AUSTIN — The keys to solving climate change could already be in the ignition, Pete Buttigieg said, empowering a crowd of innovation leaders to sit in the passenger…
Sit Foundry takes a stand for ‘lost art’ of upholstery amid fast furniture’s climate threat
Alex Krause Matlack is bringing what she teaches in the classroom to Kansas City’s entrepreneurial ecosystem as she pursues Sit Foundry — an all-inclusive reupholstery design studio. “In the first week of my Intro to Entrepreneurship class, I tell my students to go out into the world and take notice of the problems they face….
De-risking a dangerous job: How a window washing startup is raising the bar (and hose) with drones
It’s a nightmare to clean the windows of multi-story buildings, said Andrew Brain. “It’s incredibly unsafe for folks to be hanging on the side of buildings — and it’s incredibly expensive for them to be there. Insurance liability has gone up 300 to 400 percent. … I was thinking that there’s got to be a…
